Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
Waynesboro, Virginia, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 18, 2007
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
BV 0 0 0
TV 0 0 0
OS 0 0 170
BE 0 2 88
NH 3 4 47
SS 3 59 1527
CH 0 18 164
NG 0 1 1
RS 0 17 36
BW 0 0 15214
RT 46 732 969
RL 0 0 0
GE 0 1 2
AK 0 2 201
ML 0 1 18
PG 0 1 16
UA 0 0 7
UB 0 1 16
UF 0 0 1
UE 0 0 0
UR 0 1 18
Total: 52 840 18495
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Vic Laubach
Observers:
Visitors:
Carolyn Zimmerman and Bob Hing kept me company most of the day getting
terrific views of the Red-Tailed Hawks passing overhead. We'll see you
(Carolyn and Bob) again next season!
Weather:
A beautiful November day ... a terrific day to end the season! Temperature
ranged from 46-64'F. Cloudy until 10 am when the sky became mostly blue
with a few scattered clouds slowly moving by. Very light breeze from the E
at 1-5km/hr all day. Humidity 35-61%. The fall colors on the trees were
still looking great today!
Raptor Observations:
This was the final day of counting at Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch for the 2007
season. The first bird (10:02am) and the final bird (2:50pm) of the day
were adult female N. Harriers with one more at 1:42pm. The Red-Tailed Hawks
were slowing flying by on thermals in the first half of the day while they
were soaring fast and straight by in the second half of the day, with many
flying very close overhead.
2007 ended up breaking the season record for three species: Bald Eagle,
Broad-Winged Hawk, and American Kestrel. All of the other species numbers
ended up very close to the overall season average (or better).
Non-raptor Observations:
Fish Crow and 2 Ravens.
There were large numbers of black and turkey vultures throughout the day,
with one kettle having 35 vultures. Although I tried my best, I just
couldn't turn any vulture into a Golden Eagle.
Predictions:
Winter.
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Report submitted by Brenda Tekin (bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA information may be found at:
http://home.ntelos.net/~btkin/rockfish_gap_hawk_watch
